Applied Microbiology, Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases

Infectious diseases

Infectious diseases are caused by pathogenic microbes which spread either directly or indirectly from one person to another. These can be classified as either bacterial, viral, zoonotic, parasitic or fungal depending on causative agents. Most of infections are not lethal and organism is annihilated after the symptoms wane. The process requires immune mechanisms to kill the source of the pathogen. Specific acquired immunity antagonistic to the infectious diseases are mediated by either antibodies or by T lymphocytes. The immune response causes high fever, inflammation, and also has the probability to be devastating to a microbe. Phylodynamic models help in locating the epidemic and pandemic origins. The agile rate of evolution and growth in viruses allows molecular clocks to envisage the genetic sequences, thereby providing the precise rate of evolution of the virus.